The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone's life, that person's life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.' "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'You wicked person, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.
(Ezekiel 33:1-9 NIV)
The responsibility of a watchmen is great. And yet in God's kingdom we are chosen. Leaders and shepherds of Gods people are given spiritual authority not by our desire but God's will.
The risk of a watchmen:
We are the first on the line as danger comes
To not call out when danger is coming
Means there blood is on our hands
To call out when there is no danger
Risks our reputation
To call out too late
Means many will die because of us
And yet
Even if we call out
They may not listen
God strengthen me as your watchmen to be vigilant and wise. Teach me your word. Full me with your Spirit. Give me discernment and courage to speak your truth. God help me to find my identity in you alone and not what others say. Help me to trust in your plans and be faithful even in my fear and when I don't understand.
Reveal your calling and spiritual authority to others. Help them to know that you have called and it is not a choice. Wherever they are and wherever you call them they carry that spiritual authority.
Amen
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Ezekiel 33 God's justice
"Son of man, say to the Israelites, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?"' Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?'
"Therefore, son of man, say to your people, 'If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person's former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person's former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.' If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you Israelites say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But I will judge each of you according to your own ways."
(Ezekiel 33:10-20 NIV)
Thank goodness we have a God who is both just and yet desires that the wicked should repent and live.
This Old Testament verse from the prophet Ezekiel ties in directly with Jesus message:
Mark 1:15 The time has come, he said.
The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!- Jesus
And also the parable of the workers in the field:
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. "But he answered one of them, 'I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' (Matthew 20 NIV)
God has open doors. If we will repent and receive Christ and live in his righteousness by faith then we will be saved even on the last hour. For it is not by a lifetime of works that we inherit heaven but by the work of Jesus on the cross.
The Lord is just.
We each die by our own sins except that Jesus died for our sins.
The Lord is generous.
All who repent and believe will be saved.
Our work is to believe in the one the Father sent: Jesus the Son of God in flesh that he died for our sins and rose again victorious!
To do so we must
Recognize our sinfulness
Repent and turn to God to change
Receive the forgiveness by the cross and new life in the Spirit
For we will continue to sin
But we must fight it and live by the Spirit
Then we will live now and forever
In heaven with God our Father
in his house
Not because of our righteousness but Christ's!
God help me to preach and teach this boldly. Not hiding our sin and the death due for sin. But also joyful in he life through Christ.
Amen
"Therefore, son of man, say to your people, 'If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person's former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person's former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.' If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you Israelites say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But I will judge each of you according to your own ways."
(Ezekiel 33:10-20 NIV)
Thank goodness we have a God who is both just and yet desires that the wicked should repent and live.
This Old Testament verse from the prophet Ezekiel ties in directly with Jesus message:
Mark 1:15 The time has come, he said.
The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!- Jesus
And also the parable of the workers in the field:
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. "But he answered one of them, 'I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' (Matthew 20 NIV)
God has open doors. If we will repent and receive Christ and live in his righteousness by faith then we will be saved even on the last hour. For it is not by a lifetime of works that we inherit heaven but by the work of Jesus on the cross.
The Lord is just.
We each die by our own sins except that Jesus died for our sins.
The Lord is generous.
All who repent and believe will be saved.
Our work is to believe in the one the Father sent: Jesus the Son of God in flesh that he died for our sins and rose again victorious!
To do so we must
Recognize our sinfulness
Repent and turn to God to change
Receive the forgiveness by the cross and new life in the Spirit
For we will continue to sin
But we must fight it and live by the Spirit
Then we will live now and forever
In heaven with God our Father
in his house
Not because of our righteousness but Christ's!
God help me to preach and teach this boldly. Not hiding our sin and the death due for sin. But also joyful in he life through Christ.
Amen
They shall know that I am the Lord
And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries. But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the Lord."
(Ezekiel 12:15, 16 ESV)
This is a theme in the history of Israel. God does many things so that Israel and the other nations shall know that he is the Lord. For example in Egyt God said:
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." And they did so.
(Exodus 14:4 ESV)
God was at work throughout history revealing himself to the nations that they would know the he is the Lord. That he is sovereign and good.
God is at work now by his Spirit and through us who are his disciples as Jesus said
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15, 16 ESV)
God reveal yourself to me to my friends, to my family, to college students, to the church, to Intervarsity, to America, to people of every tribe and tongue and nation and ethnicity. God your gospel is for all people. I pray their hearts would be opened that they might believe and be saved by the work you did Jesus for our salvation. God help and guide me to do what I can do and to trust you to do what only you can do to share your gospel and make disciples of all nations!
Amen
(Ezekiel 12:15, 16 ESV)
This is a theme in the history of Israel. God does many things so that Israel and the other nations shall know that he is the Lord. For example in Egyt God said:
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." And they did so.
(Exodus 14:4 ESV)
God was at work throughout history revealing himself to the nations that they would know the he is the Lord. That he is sovereign and good.
God is at work now by his Spirit and through us who are his disciples as Jesus said
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15, 16 ESV)
God reveal yourself to me to my friends, to my family, to college students, to the church, to Intervarsity, to America, to people of every tribe and tongue and nation and ethnicity. God your gospel is for all people. I pray their hearts would be opened that they might believe and be saved by the work you did Jesus for our salvation. God help and guide me to do what I can do and to trust you to do what only you can do to share your gospel and make disciples of all nations!
Amen
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Psalm 78: let us teach our children of God
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Psalm 78:1-8 ESV)
God I am excited at the hope that one day I might have a family if it is in your will. I look forward in the right timing to bringing up and raising up children into it ways God. But I am afraid because their faith is their own and between you and them God. I desperately hope they would come to know you God and hope in you and arise to live faithfully to you God passing your gospel to others and to their children. God I am afraid, but I want to prayerfully trust this in your hands. God if it is your will for me to marry and raise children I pray I would be faithful to you in raising them. I pray I would teach them of your deeds from creation to the cross through the church to my faith and on into your promise of eternity. I pray my wife and I would depend on you in raising them. I pray I would balance my work even in ministry with caring for and raising my family in your ways God. Thank you for the great joy and great responsibility of raising a family.
Amen
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Psalm 78:1-8 ESV)
God I am excited at the hope that one day I might have a family if it is in your will. I look forward in the right timing to bringing up and raising up children into it ways God. But I am afraid because their faith is their own and between you and them God. I desperately hope they would come to know you God and hope in you and arise to live faithfully to you God passing your gospel to others and to their children. God I am afraid, but I want to prayerfully trust this in your hands. God if it is your will for me to marry and raise children I pray I would be faithful to you in raising them. I pray I would teach them of your deeds from creation to the cross through the church to my faith and on into your promise of eternity. I pray my wife and I would depend on you in raising them. I pray I would balance my work even in ministry with caring for and raising my family in your ways God. Thank you for the great joy and great responsibility of raising a family.
Amen
Meditation Psalm 77 faith when in doubt and hard time
I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
"Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah
Then I said, "I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High."
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalm 77:1-3, 7-11, 13, 19, 20 ESV)
I want to follow Asaph in this way when I am weary and doubtful and afraid. When I feel that all is lost. When I cry out and feel that God has left me then I want to pray and remember the deeds of God from of old: creation, your salvation of Israel from Egypt and your death on a Cross all for us who are undeserving. And also I want to hope only in you God and in your eternal promise of life: heaven. For you promise us hardship in this life but relief in eternity in your house. God I do not want to trust in security or comfort in this life for you do not promise that. You are enough here and now and forever. Thank you Lord. I pray you would strengthen me to remember this in hard times.
Amen
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
"Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah
Then I said, "I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High."
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalm 77:1-3, 7-11, 13, 19, 20 ESV)
I want to follow Asaph in this way when I am weary and doubtful and afraid. When I feel that all is lost. When I cry out and feel that God has left me then I want to pray and remember the deeds of God from of old: creation, your salvation of Israel from Egypt and your death on a Cross all for us who are undeserving. And also I want to hope only in you God and in your eternal promise of life: heaven. For you promise us hardship in this life but relief in eternity in your house. God I do not want to trust in security or comfort in this life for you do not promise that. You are enough here and now and forever. Thank you Lord. I pray you would strengthen me to remember this in hard times.
Amen
Promises for Gods people
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God."
And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.
(Ezekiel 11:19-21, 24, 25 ESV)
God has promised his people Israel many things and they came true. God promised his people and the world a savior. Our savior has come and we killed him on a cross. Yet God worked out our sin for his good and brought about our salvation.
Even more promises God gave here:
One heart
A new spirit
Heart of flesh
Ability to follow Gods will
Be Gods people
God will be our God
Consequences of sin on those who continue to live in sin
I think those promises have been fulfilled in part because of what Jesus did for us and by sending his Spirit to be with us. In Christ by the Spirit we can live in these promises. But in flesh we are not fully in God and his promises. Yet in eternal life we will fully be one with God and each other and the new creation. Our spirit will be united in Christ forever. We will no longer have our flesh or the desire to sin. We will be Gods people and we will be with our God in his house dwelling and alive in his city. We will eternally live by that choice to be with God by the Cross and Jesus or to live in punishment and sin.
God help me to live in your promises now and to hope for their completion in heaven our true home with you.
Amen
And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.
(Ezekiel 11:19-21, 24, 25 ESV)
God has promised his people Israel many things and they came true. God promised his people and the world a savior. Our savior has come and we killed him on a cross. Yet God worked out our sin for his good and brought about our salvation.
Even more promises God gave here:
One heart
A new spirit
Heart of flesh
Ability to follow Gods will
Be Gods people
God will be our God
Consequences of sin on those who continue to live in sin
I think those promises have been fulfilled in part because of what Jesus did for us and by sending his Spirit to be with us. In Christ by the Spirit we can live in these promises. But in flesh we are not fully in God and his promises. Yet in eternal life we will fully be one with God and each other and the new creation. Our spirit will be united in Christ forever. We will no longer have our flesh or the desire to sin. We will be Gods people and we will be with our God in his house dwelling and alive in his city. We will eternally live by that choice to be with God by the Cross and Jesus or to live in punishment and sin.
God help me to live in your promises now and to hope for their completion in heaven our true home with you.
Amen
God saves a few who seek him amidst his wrath
Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. (Ezekiel 8:17 ESV)
This is the context for how sinful his people Judah are. They worship other idols even in the temple of God. Yet that is not enough they also have filled the land with violence killing innocents and bringing about bloodshed of others.
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand." And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, "Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out." So they went out and struck in the city. And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, "Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?"
(Ezekiel 9:1, 2, 4-8 ESV)
God is unleashing his terrible wrath without mercy on those who practice this idolatry and violence. Yet the few who but sigh and groan over the evil of their nation and their brothers and sisters. God will save them. For if they have even a tiny heart of compassion God will save them that they might live like he desires his people to live.
God there is still much of this that I can't understand, for example why you command the death of the little children. But I believe your forgiveness abounds and those same children in their hearts either mourn the evil or laugh and enjoy the violence. They to perhaps make a choice. Or instead their choice is decided by the sin of society in which they are raised and it corrupts them. Please God it is hard for us to read of your great wrath like this and to believe you are a loving and forgiving God. Please help us to understand both the greatness of sin, wrath and your love mercy and grace.
Amen
This is the context for how sinful his people Judah are. They worship other idols even in the temple of God. Yet that is not enough they also have filled the land with violence killing innocents and bringing about bloodshed of others.
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand." And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, "Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out." So they went out and struck in the city. And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, "Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?"
(Ezekiel 9:1, 2, 4-8 ESV)
God is unleashing his terrible wrath without mercy on those who practice this idolatry and violence. Yet the few who but sigh and groan over the evil of their nation and their brothers and sisters. God will save them. For if they have even a tiny heart of compassion God will save them that they might live like he desires his people to live.
God there is still much of this that I can't understand, for example why you command the death of the little children. But I believe your forgiveness abounds and those same children in their hearts either mourn the evil or laugh and enjoy the violence. They to perhaps make a choice. Or instead their choice is decided by the sin of society in which they are raised and it corrupts them. Please God it is hard for us to read of your great wrath like this and to believe you are a loving and forgiving God. Please help us to understand both the greatness of sin, wrath and your love mercy and grace.
Amen
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